Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry expects the country’s natural gas production to drop by 3.6% to 4.85 bcf/d in FY 2017/18 from 5.03 bcf/day in FY2014/15, while demand is expected to rise by 24% from 5.98 bcf/d to 7.42 bcf/d over the same period, according to the newspaper Al-Borsa.

The ministry also plans to double natural gas imports from 0.5 bcf/d to 1.0 bcf/d starting FY 16/17, which would still imply a shortfall of 1.77 bcf/d in FY17/18, up from 0.65 bcf/d in the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, 10 local banks will provide a loan worth EGP 10 billion to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for financing part of the company’s debt, the newspaper Almal reported.

The petroleum sector paid a new batch of dues to the foreign partners amounting to $2.1 billion, decreasing total accumulated arrears to $3.1 billion, according to Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail.

The minister pointed out that the petroleum sector already paid two instalments of dues to foreign partners, the first worth $1.5 billion in December 2013 and the second worth $ 1.4 billion in October 2014.

Source: Egypt Independent